5 Country Collabs That Prove Siblings Make the Best Bandmates

Born almost two decades apart, sisters Lynn and Gayle have both influenced country music in big ways. They have collaborated several times over the years, but there are two collaborations in particular worth noting: First, Gayle’s 1970 debut single, “I’ve Cried (the Blue Right Out of My Eyes),” was written by Lynn, and on her later compilation album of the same title, Gayle recorded three songs that her sister penned.

Also of note is the sisters’ performance with the Boston Pops Orchestra in the late 1980s. They kicked things off with “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and sang together throughout, covering one another’s songs. It was certainly a night to remember!

Do you remember when, as Belmont University students, Dawson and Louisa Wendorff released a video of a mashup of Taylor Swift‘s “Blank Space” and “Style” in December 2014? It went viral and earned a stamp of approval from Swift herself — but what you may not know is that Dawson has a fraternal twin brother, Durrett, who worked on the audio for the clip until 3AM the night before the video shoot. Talk about brotherly love!

Durrett is also credited with co-writing two songs on Dawson’s debut record, Dark Horse. For Dawson’s debut single, “All on Me,” Durrett built a loop and bass part into the demo with an effect so great that Dawson pre-gifted his brother with a 10 percent cut on the songwriting royalties!

McEntire‘s Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope is full of her favorite gospel songs, and our favorite is “I’ll Fly Away,” because McEntire got her mother Jackie and sisters Susie and Alice involved.

“Music conjures up great memories and goes hand and hand with us McEntires,” McEntire shares. To Nash Country Daily, she adds, ““[It was] too much fun. We were just silly as we could be. We all got around the microphone, and Susie and I — we were up there just singing our little hearts out, and Mama and Alice just kept backing up. They’re not used to it, saying, ‘Oh, we don’t want to be on tape, we can’t sing.’ I’d say, ‘Oh, get up here.’ It was so fun.”

By the way: Did you know Susie McEntire toured with her in the 1980s and sang background vocals on Heart to Heart and Unlimited?

Let’s see if you can keep this connection straight: West, the daughter of late country singer Dottie West, was a duet partner of Frizzell (a brother of Lefty Frizzell). Another Frizzell brother, Allen, was Dottie West’s lead … until he fell in love with her daughter. That’s one complicated family tree!

Essentially, Shelly West and David Frizzell are siblings-in-law, and the duo is especially known for their No. 1 hit “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma,” as well as other singles such as “I Just Came Here to Dance.”

Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum released the album Love Remains with her family in 2016, and one of the voices on the record is that of her younger sister Rylee, who was 16 at the time of recording. The project was the perfect chance for the sisters to hang out — something that has been difficult to do consistently due to Lady A’s popularity and touring schedule.

“I left for college when Rylee was almost five,” Scott says, “and then was in school for two and a half years, met the boys, left, and we just have been jet setting around the world for almost a decade … We obviously have stayed close and kept in contact, but there’s a lot of in-person, being able to lean on her shoulder and talk to her about what went on in school that day. Those things, those moments, that life that we have been able to make up for a lot of lost time.”

The Scott sisters, by the way, are the daughters of country star Linda Davis and musician Lang Scott. It’s clear that musical talent runs in the family!